Hey everyone, welcome to a brand new type of article on ECK. It’s been a while since we were active, but I hope you enjoyed our Ferrari Land review! In this new blog post, we will be discussing the latest European coaster news and more to make sure you didn’t miss out on anything large lately. Here we go!

Icon at Blackpool Pleasure Beach

News from Blackpool Pleasure Beach as they announced the name of their coaster for 2018: Icon. This Mack double launch coaster will be the hottest new coaster in the world, according to the park. Check it this video from the park here:

Source: Youtube – Blackpool Pleasure Beach

Mack definitely has a decent reputation when it comes to these types of coasters. Blue Fire remains an icon as their first looping coaster. This one here will definitely be worth a visit to Blackpool for sure, but there are many jewels of steel out there. They do take a risk with this type of marketing. We’ll have to wait and see if the anticipation that they are creating, will be answered once the ride is open next year.

Coaster plans for Freizeitpark Plohn

Remember Walibi Holland’s Lost Gravity? I’m sure you do! Well a smaller theme park in Germany, Freizeitpark Plohn, is said to open it’s own Big Dipper in 2019. We still have to wait a bit, but it’s definitely an interesting investment for this park. They already have an interesting woodie: El Toro, which is highly ranked among European fans. It would be the park’s first coaster with inversions.

Wow! All of a sudden, this park makes it’s mark with the addition of this type of coaster. It’s a trend that more and more smaller park should be thinking about. One big eye-catcher coaster, custom to make it worth a trip and it makes the word spread faster to visit the park. We look forward to see what they will do with this type of ride!

Rookburgh at Phantasialand

Phantasialand revealed a bit more about it’s upcoming ride replacing the former simulator ride: Race for Atlantis. No regrets however, as this new concept art of the replacement Rookburgh is absolutely stunning. Get ready for a steampunk themed area, which will be incredible as Phantasialand is known for it’s excellent theming. What the ride will be remains a secret but it’s said to be a never seen before mix of themed area, ride and day & night experience.

Source: Phantasialand

OMG, this is so cool. There aren’t many real steampunk themed areas out there. The results of Chiapas and Klugheim are breathtaking, so we can only expect the same from Rookburgh. Rumor has it that we might expect a type of Vekoma Flying coaster. A strange rumor, but it could refer to the prototype that was installed at Vekoma.

April 12th at Disneyland Paris: Character Madness

Well well well, Disneyland Paris celebrated it’s 25th birthday this week and what a ceremony it was! Hundreds of performers walked along from Sleeping Beauty Castle to Main Street USA in honor of this special day. Followed by the cast members with Catherine Powell as the star of the day. Check out this one hour show at the park here:

Source: Youtube – Disneyland Paris

If you’re a Disney character fan, you will be crying after watching this if you weren’t there to celebrate. Soooooo many characters and especially quite a few that are almost never in the park. The show itself shows that Disneyland Paris can compete with the other Disney resorts when it comes to entertainment. It’s never seen before at the park and we can only hope that the Walt Disney Company takeover will result in more of this kind of shows.

Efteling’s Symbolica Update #5

The most anticipated dark ride in Europe (and maybe even the world) is Symbolica and will open on July 1st. The park has a beautiful series of making of videos on their Youtube channel. Even if you don’t speak Dutch, the footage reveals how stunning this new ride will be. Check out the latest video here:

Source: Youtube – Efteling

So what do you think? It’s clear that this largest investment in the park’s history will pay off. Starting from this summer, we will be taken into the world of Pardoes in the beautiful castle. Personally, I think this will truly be the best dark ride in Europe. The park has made incredible investments, including Baron 1898, but this ride will be for the whole family to enjoy. The ballroom scene looks beautiful but it’s not even finished!

Opening Gold Rush at Attractiepark Slagharen

Finally, there was a coaster opening it’s gates this week as well. Gold Rush, the newest triple launch coaster at Attractiepark Slagharen is now open to the public. Wouter Dekkers, the director of the park, can’t be more proud and with good reason. This replacement for the former Thunder Loop is definitely worth a visit to the Netherlands. Check out the onride here:

Source: Youtube – Pretparken.be

I talked about a new trend regarding one eye-catching coaster at smaller parks, well here’s a perfect example. Attractiepark Slagharen ensured to attract many new guests now and in the future. It’s unique, thrilling (lap bars OMG) and I did not regret the 4h30 drive back for this coaster. The park made sure that the ride was ready for opening, even with the details. If there were any budget costs, well you can’t notice them at all. They even turned the former Thunder Loop queue into a viewing area for the coaster. Definitely one of the best coasters in the Netherlands!

Thanks so much for reading our 1st ECK Blog. Please keep in mind, all images found on this site, unless otherwise stated, are owned by European Coaster Kings! Sharing them is fine, but only if credit to europeancoasterkings.com is given!